Today I spoke to the Election Commission about votes cast for John Edwards tomorrow.
In Massachusetts:
(1) All votes will count for the candidate they are cast for. They will be counted, as well as reported to the media, who will report them as legitimate votes. (Then it may take several days for the town clerks to certify them since they have to wait for absentee votes, etc., to come in.)
What happens to those votes is up to the state Democratic Committee so I called them.
Per the Mass Democratic Committee:
(2) Any candidate who achieves the 15% threshold (by precinct) will keep the delegates he wins and those delegates will go to the national convention as if the candidate was still running. In Denver, the candidate will meet with his delegates and instruct them what to do with their vote – at the convention!
If you vote for Edwards, your vote will count!
…for what exactly? The hope that someone not in the race who would have had trouble getting 15% of the vote in the first place will get that amount in absentia and then throw the delegate earned towards the candidate that you have come to support?
<
p>It is almost a guarantee that anyone who votes for Edwards tomorrow might as well stay home. That is how much that vote will be worth.
Well, for starters, it’s worth knowing I can sleep at night.
<
p>If you have another candidate you support, vote for him but don’t spread lies and make sly innuendos to intimidate Edwards’ people to vote for someone they know, or care, nothing about. You seem to be in an awful hurry to nominate your candidate. Are you afraid something is coming out about him? Oh dear, did I just make a sly innuendo? Sorry ’bout that…
…snary snarkerson, dial it down a bit.
<
p>Edwards got 18% if the vote in his birth state when he was still in the race.
<
p>He will not get 15% in Mass anywhere.
<
p>That is not sly innuendo, it is the only logical conclusion considering the circumstance.
<
p>Intimidate?? Really??
<
p>That is just silly. It is the simple truth. Anyone who votes for Edwards on Tuesday may as well just stay home.
<
p>If that helps you sleep, good for you.
<
p>That is neither sly, nor innuendo and certainly not intimidating.
<
p>What makes you think my candidate is a “him”. That’s not sly innunedo or itimidating but it is presumptuous.
<
p>
Delegates are awarded by congressional district, not statewide total.
<
p>In many super-tuesday states, a good chunk of votes occur through absentee ballots. In CA, it may be up to 60%. Edwards was polling at about 12% when he dropped out in CA-thus, it would not be surprising if he picked up a couple delegates in CA, especially if supporters stand by him.
<
p>Sure, it will be hard to pick up a delegate in MA but it is certainly possible if there are a large amt. of absentees.
…pay attention. California is an early voter state. Those aren’t absentee ballots, they are early votes. Mass does not allow early voting. The number of absentee ballots in MA is teeny by comparison.
<
p>Edwards will be getting nothing in MA.
either by mail or by person.
<
p>I voted for Edwards at my town hall in MA weeks ago.
…no, no, no, no.
<
p>It is illegal in MA to file an absentee ballot if you are going to be in the state on election day. Early voting by choice is verboten.
<
p>Not so in CA.
<
p>Sorry, but you are mistaken.
<
p>Edwards is out in MA.
to vote absentee.
<
p>You just need a legitimate reason that you can’t make it to the polls.
…you are prevented from voting due to disability or religious reasons you must be physically absent from your voting district for the entire polling period on election day. The rules do not allow for “legitimate reasons” and are quite clear. It is true that one could be in state and not be in their voting district, but being busy is not a valid reason for filing an absentee ballot.
…at the absentee ballot particularly the part that says filing one without qualifying (basically you have to be away, disabled or unable to vote for religious reasons) subjects you to up to a 10,000.00 fine and up to five years in jail.
<
p>There is no “early voting” in MA.
It says “absent from your city or town during normal polling hours.”
<
p>The one time I voted absentee I was in Salem instead of Plymouth all day. I had to drive there before the polls open and wasn’t sure when I would return. That was acceptable to the Town Clerk.
…I said upthread.
…are going to be here tomorrow you have committed a felony.
I’m a former Edwards supporter and no one is intimidating me or spreading lies about John. I’ve had a number of very vigorous discussions about both Hillary and Barack, and I made my choice.
<
p>I don’t know what your deal is – but it’s not helpful to the party. We’re all disappointed that John’s not in the race, and that his campaign had stalled…but those are the breaks. He won’t be the first candidate to step aside, and he won’t be the last. I also think he’s been in politics for decades and doesn’t expect “loyalty” above “practicality.” You’re not “cheating on him” by picking another candidate. Nevertheless, if you want to toss your vote away on someone who has left the race, that’s your right – but please don’t denigrate the people who choose a different reponse to the loss of our candidate.
<
p>Just one more thing; pissing in the wind hits you, too, whether you stand up or sit down.
It is very difficult, when a candidate has suspended campaigining, to break the 15% threshold. I believe that Howard Dean did in Vermont in 2004, but that was an exceptional circumstance. Volunteers in Mass, tried very hard to get 15% in even one CD, for Dean and were unable to even come close.
Yes, that’s what I was going to comment. Our goal was to get 15% in the 8th Congressional district, to elect at least one Dean delegate, but we only got a little over 8%.
<
p>We were a much better organized movement than what remains of the Edwards campaign, because we’d been building a grassroots organization actively for over a year. We got an office in Central Square (paid for by volunteers, no connection to the official Dean campaign which had ended), we had a supporter database with thousands of people, we had local meetup group leaders all over the area with networks of volunteers, we had stacks of DVDs of Dean speeches, clips, and ads to give away, we had a core team of people who’d been working together for many months, etc. What we suddenly no longer had was “air support” – a candidate campaigning, coverage in the press, TV ads. That made a huge difference, and we failed to elect any delegates.
<
p>We did, however, succeed in electing a lot of Deanies to Democratic town and ward committees, because we’d put together slates all over the state and handed out lots of flyers with those slates to voters.
<
p>I might be missing something, but AFAIK there’s no corresponding Edwards movement & organization here. No slates of candidates for local committees, no grassroots supporter database, no campaign office.
<
p>If you vote for a candidate who gets less than 15% in your congressional distict and less than 15% statewide, your vote will effectively not count. It will not be figured in when delegates are awared proportionally to the candidates who get more than 15%. So if you have a preference between Obama and Clinton, vote for one of them if you want your vote to matter. Without Edwards’ support, I doubt you can elect any Edwards delegates.
Kerry was going to win anyway …. this year, with HRC, I have more hope that we’ll do well – đŸ™‚
picked up delegates in several states after he withdrew. But there was an organized effort in some states on his behalf.
It might have been nice if Edwards voters could have voted for Edwards and had the intent of their vote so applied.
But what I read from the OP seems to imply that if Edwards voters form a large enough block, then party elders will determine the candidate to benifit from it?
Umm ..
Is that even possible or does Edwards still get to direct his committed delegates? Hmm ..
Anyhow … I will stick with voting my consience from AMONG candidates who are still actualy running (whom the corporate media havent already beaten into submission)…
So as always ..
Lesser of Evils be damned … If you dont vote for the candidate who best represents your own views … you have absolutly NO RIGHT to complain about not being represented …
I plan on doing a lot of complaining!
I had been getting all the Edwards e-mails and was a 100% Edwards supporter. If he had done an outreach to Mass. voters and made a reasoned case for us to vote for him today, I would have listened. No such outreach was made, so I voted for my next choice, Obama.